BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Since its founding in 1884, Indiana University has been plagued with bad football. With notable achievements ranging from winless conference seasons to the program's current 30-plus-year run without a bowl victory, the outlook of the program has always looked rather bleak.
Bill Lynch infamously threw his gum and was fired the very next year. Kevin Wilson never surpassed seven wins and was fired amidst a scandal. Tom Allen appeared to have brought the program to life during the abbreviated COVID season in 2020, but it fizzled out to the tune of a 9-27 record in each of his following three seasons with the Hoosiers, ultimately leading to his firing.
For decades, there has been a severe lack of enthusiasm surrounding the football program in Bloomington. Much of that can be attributed to the simple fact that the product on the field hasn't piqued fans’ interest. The mantra of Hoosier fans at the tailgate fields across 17th street has long been, "Hey, we may stink, but at least we’ve never lost a tailgate!”
Following yet another losing season in 2023, interest troughed. Football became even more of an afterthought in Bloomington than it had been in the past. That's were Curt Cignetti entered the fold.
After a strenuous process, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson picked out Cignetti. A then 62-year-old head coach, Cignetti had just one year of head coaching experience at the FBS level prior to his hiring by the Hoosiers.
The moment Cignetti stepped off the plane at the Monroe County Airport on the west side of town, it was game on for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native. It started at the Indiana versus Maryland basketball game at Assembly Hall back in December, just a few hours after his introductory press conference.
Cignetti, sporting the same gray suit he had been in all day, had the mic in front of a raucous Assembly Hall crowd. With Cignetti gripping the microphone tight, fireworks ensued.
“I have never taken a back seat to anybody, and don’t plan on starting now,” the new Indiana head coach exclaimed. “Purdue sucks... and so do Michigan and Ohio State. Go IU.”
The direct shots taken at three Big Ten foes was far from the last of Cignetti's attention-grabbing comments. That memorable night in December was only the beginning. A couple of weeks later, during his meeting with the media following National Signing Day, Cignetti uttered a sentence that has since become his calling card not only around Bloomington, but around the nation as well.
“I win,” Cignetti proclaimed, pausing for just a moment. “Google me.”
Cignetti is a smart man. He understands the power his words hold amongst the Hoosier faithful. Just the other day, Cignetti admitted that some of the things he's said during his short Indiana tenure may have been slightly over the top. However, he's remained firm in the idea that those types of comments were necessary in order to instill some enthusiasm in a program otherwise void of any.
“I made a couple of comments when I first got hired that were out there on a limb a little bit,” Cignetti joked. “I felt like it was something I needed to do.”
Fast-forward to ten months later, and Cignetti, along with the staff he brought with him from James Madison, have Indiana making national headlines. Cignetti has the Hoosiers sitting 7-0 for the first time since 1967.
The excitement about Indiana football has expanded well beyond the confines of Bloomington. ESPN’s Monday Night Football play-by-play broadcaster Joe Buck, an honorary Indiana alum, has made countless comments over the air about how ecstatic he is for his alma mater.
“I mean, come on. Coach Cignetti doing his thing, Kurtis Rourke, our quarterback,” Buck said in conversation on a MNF broadcast, “it’s an exciting time.”
Indiana's undefeated start to the season paved the way for Saturday’s week eight clash with Nebraska, which was played in front of a national audience on FOX. Big Noon Kickoff, FOX’s pregame show hosted by Rob Stone, features a panel of college football legends including Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram II, Urban Meyer, and Brady Quinn. It was dubbed the highest-rated college football pregame show last year.
Prior to Saturday, the show last visited Bloomington back in 2022 during its tour around with a top-ranked Michigan program.
“A couple of years ago, it just felt like it was a ghost town,” former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart said on Friday afternoon. “This year it just feels different.”
Leinart wasn’t the only Big Noon crew member with high praise for Indiana football's turnaround. Urban Meyer, who made countless visits to Bloomington during his tenure at Ohio State, feels that the Indiana community has earned a good football team after all of the bad years.
“I’m going to call Indiana the enigma of college football because it’s a beautiful place,” Meyer said. “They deserve it.”
The excitement surrounding the pregame festivities outside the stadium hasn’t generally translated to big crowds inside of Memorial Stadium. It's become a staple at Indiana for the bleachers at 'The Rock' to be bare, especially the second half of games and especially in the student section.
“It genuinely was sad,” recent IU graduate Brady Jarosinki said. "A fanbase so full of passion has always deserved better.”
That, too, has changed. It didn't happen over night however. It required an effort from Indiana's head coach. In an email sent to Indiana students prior to the Maryland game, Cignetti pleaded for students to not only show up in droves, but to stay for the duration of the game.
“The tailgates can wait. The parties can wait. If you need to study, that can wait too,” Cignetti's letter went. “There are good things happening with IU Football, and you’re a big part of it.”
The students certainly answered the call. For all four quarters, Indiana's students endured a mist-like rain during Indiana's 42-28 victory over the Terrapins.
“Electric,” senior Aidan Murphy said of the game. “I was really excited to be a part of it.”
There is nothing like October in Bloomington. The changing of the leaves and temperature brings remarkable views all throughout campus, but it also means basketball season is just around the corner.
Hoosier Hysteria, the annual preseason basketball event, took place Friday evening at Assembly Hall; however, the excitement levels weren’t the same as years prior.
It's not because of anything Mike Woodson and Teri Moren have or haven't done – they’re both ranked in the preseason top-25 – it’s because the team that plays down the street is one of the best stories in the country. The emergence of Indiana's football program has forced basketball season to take a backseat.
“Coach Cignetti is doing a helluva job,” Woodson said to the Assembly Hall crowd Friday. “Let’s go pack that stadium.”
Woodson isn’t the only one content with hoops taking a backseat for the time being. Fans like Josh Bruick, founder of the Hoosier Ticket Project and a lifelong Indiana fan, has no issue with football intruding upon the basketball season.
“Football used to be just a bridge to basketball season,” Bruick said. “We have finally embraced football, and you can already see the instant payoff.”
Saturday’s noon kickoff against Nebraska marked the first time since 1988 that fans were able to be in attendance to see a top-20 Indiana team in action at The Rock. With a sellout at Memorial Stadium announced nine days before Saturday’s game, it was a sign of change in Bloomington. At long last, there was finally a belief in the Indiana football program.
There was a different vibe around the stadium on Saturday. As per usual, fans arrived to the tailgate fields as the crack of dawn to get the party started. Students woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get their game day festivities going.
The difference this weekend was that almost all of them planned on going to the game and staying at the game until the end. The reason for that is simple, the Hoosiers are winning. Most students don’t become fans until they step on campus, but for others, like senior Daniel Keller, Indiana football’s newfound success is something that just means more.
“This is personal for me,” Keller said. “I’ve been going to games my entire life, and it’s finally happening. It’s fantastic to see a packed rock.”
The tailgate fields have traditionally been the closest people would get to the stadium without actually going in; however, on Saturday, there was a change in plans.
“Being at the tailgate fields felt a lot different this time around compared to years past,” Jarosinksi said. “There was a collective buzz, and everyone was talking about the game and what Coach Cignetti has done for the program.”
Greg Farrall, who was an All-Big Ten defensive end on the last Indiana team to win a bowl game back in 1991, has been hosting tailgates since he graduated over thirty years ago. He has kept in touch with a bunch of his former teammates from that Copper Bowl-winning team.
“There’s relief,” Farrall said. “We’ve been yearning and aching for wins. In years past we've seen mistakes and errors, but I'm just not seeing that this year. They're unflappable and very well disciplined."
Being around for so many years, Farrall has seen it all when it comes to Indiana football, but this team is different in his eyes.
As the tailgates wrapped up and fans began to make their into the game, it was finally game time in Bloomington. A picture-perfect day at Memorial Stadium, which traditionally is known for its late-arriving crowds, was jam-packed when Indiana took the field ten minutes prior to kickoff.
With AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ blaring over the loud speakers, the only thing audible was the loud roar of the raucous Indiana crowd. Students were waving their white rally towels, which read ‘Study Later’ in Cignetti’s handwriting -- a direct nod to the head coach’s email from a couple of weeks prior. The announced attendance of 53,082 was the fourth-largest crowd in program history, and their energy did not go unnoticed by players and coaches.
“I noticed ‘em,” Cignetti said postgame. “There's a lot of excitement in a lot of places, which is awesome. I could tell they were really loud.”
The measuring stick game for Indiana swiftly became a good old-fashioned beatdown in front of a national audience. The Hoosiers were dominant from start to finish, proving their worth with a commanding 56-7 thrashing of Nebraska.
Indiana’s dominance led FOX's play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson into a soundbite that perfectly encapsulates what fans feel about the Hoosiers.
"I-U,” Johnson exclaimed. “America, they got a football team now and they can play!"
After the game, Indiana running back Ty Son Lawton admitted that he had to take a moment to take in the sights and sounds of the raucous environment.
“You can’t not notice it,” Lawton joked. “It was emotional for me.”
Cignetti knew it wouldn't be easy to revive this Indiana football program. With that being said, the Hoosiers' turnaround has been something Cignetti always knew he was capable of.
“I felt confident it could happen here,” Cignetti said. “ I'd done it at one other place that was very similar to this going in.”
No matter what happens in the coming weeks, Cignetti has put Bloomington on the college football map. America is taking notice, too. A week after Big Noon Kickoff’s visit, ESPN’s College Gameday announced it too would be bringing one of the sport’s best stories to living rooms across the country. As long as he's the head coach at Indiana, the Hoosiers have to like their chances to remain entrenched in the national conversation.
Despite all of the outside noise that comes with an exhilarating victory, Indiana’s head coach has remained grounded in the moment. Cignetti's taking everything one day at a time, that's the only way to keep the Hoosiers' success going.
“Tomorrow is a concept. All there is," Cignetti said, "is the here and now.”
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